Tarnished
by autumnrose2010
Summary: Takes place right after the movie ends. Brad and Janet struggle to put the past behind them and go on with their normal lives.
1. The Morning After

"Did that really happen?" Brad asked of no one in particular, after a few moments of stunned silence.

"If it didn't, it was by far the worst nightmare I've ever had in my entire life," Janet responded adamantly.

"If that was a nightmare, I just had the same one," Brad muttered.

"He needs help." Janet, her voice full of concern, indicated Dr. Scott.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Brad hurriedly righted the overturned wheelchair, and he and Janet both helped the elderly professor into it.

"God forgive me, but I'm glad my sister wasn't here to see what became of her boy. It would have broken her heart." Dr. Scott's voice was heavy with sorrow.

"That Dr. Furter was truly an evil, evil man," Janet seethed.

"It's a good thing he's gone. The world is better off without him," Brad agreed. "The important thing now is to get back home and try our best to put all of this behind us."

"My car is right over there, close to where the castle used to be," Dr. Scott told them.

"Ours is up the road a little ways, but it has a flat tire."

"Why don't I give you a ride back to my place, and you can call for help from there," Dr. Scott suggested.

Brad gave a sharp laugh. "We were on our way to visit you when we had the flat. How ironic is that?"

"Even if not for the flat, you still would have missed me, as I was searching for Eddie." Dr. Scott's voice sounded so sad.

"Well, at least now you don't have to wonder what happened to him anymore." Janet meant the comment to sound consoling, but somehow it didn't quite seem to come out that way.

"He was the last of my family, you know. He was my sister's only child, and I never had any children. Now there's no one left but me." Dr. Scott sounded utterly forlorn. Janet gave him a hug, and he looked at her gratefully.

They had reached Dr. Scott's car, which was specially equipped with hand-controlled brakes and acceleration. Brad helped him get in, folded the wheelchair, and sat it beside him, and then Brad and Janet got in the back seat. Soon they were on their way to Dr. Scott's house.

Dr. Scott fiddled with the radio dial. "The swearing in of President Ford should be on some time today. I didn't want to miss that."

"It'll be on the five o'clock news tonight," Brad reminded him.

Just then a group of long-haired kids, Steppenwolf blaring over their eight-track player, sped past.

"I can't stand that kind of music," Brad grumbled. "Give me Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby any day over that crap. Or, better yet, Beethoven or Mozart."

Janet, who had been tapping her foot in time to the music, stopped immediately and glanced at him guiltily.

Dr. Scott had finally found a radio station playing the news. The reporter was talking about the arrival of another boatload of Vietnamese refugees.

"Lord, how is our country going to absorb all these extra people?" Brad sounded incredulous.

"Well, here we are." Dr. Scott was pulling into his driveway. "Incidentally, what was the purpose of your intended visit to me in the first place?"

"We had planned to announce our engagement." Brad's voice was completely devoid of cheer.

Dr. Scott smiled for the first time since their adventure had began. "Well, now, congratulations, you two. That's the second love match I've helped orchestrate."

"I wonder how Ralph and Betty are enjoying their honeymoon," Janet mused.

"Right now I don't give a flying fart about Ralph and Betty and their honeymoon. Right now all I care about is getting that flat replaced and going home." Brad sounded extremely tense and edgy.

The three of them went inside, and Brad called his father and told him what had happened.

Mr. Majors was extremely irate when he finally arrived bringing the spare tire.

"What did I tell you about always having a spare tire with you, boy? Next time you'll listen to me, won't you!"

Brad cowered under the wrath of his father.

"Let's just get this over with," Mr. Majors griped, heading back to his car with Brad and Janet in tow.


	2. Please Forgive Me

After Brad and Mr. Majors replaced Brad's flat tire, Brad and Janet went back to Brad's house. Janet had held her emotions in for as long as she could, but once the two of them were finally alone, she burst into sobs.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Brad's voice was full of concern.

"Please forgive me, Brad. I meant to save myself for you, honestly, I did. But now it's too late. I'm not a virgin anymore."

"Well, neither am I," Brad said sheepishly.

"Do you still want to marry me, even after I've been with both Frankie and Rocky?"

"I didn't know you were with Rocky too." Brad sounded miffed. "When did that happen?"

"After he escaped and the dogs chased him. He was all dirty and bloody. I just felt so sorry for him."

"You slept with him because you felt sorry for him?" Brad was incredulous.

"No, it wasn't just that. There was something in his eyes, in his smile, that just...brought out the animal in me, I guess."

Brad looked at her sorrowfully. For a long time he didn't say anything. When he finally spoke, his voice was full of compassion.

"Janet, what just happened to us was really crazy, so it was perfectly understandable that we didn't act like our normal selves. Now that the craziness of last night is finally behind us, we can go back to being just like we were before all this happened."

"Does that mean you still want to get married?"

"Of course I do, sweetheart." He took both her hands in his and looked tenderly into her face. "No matter what you've done, I still love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Oh, Brad." She put her arms around him and kissed him. For a long time they just stood there, holding each other and not saying anything. Then they spent a quiet evening talking about their plans for the future and trying desperately to put the memories of all that had happened the previous night out of their minds.


	3. Getting Married

Janet looked down the aisle at Brad standing there, handsome in his tuxedo, smiling and waiting for her. She was dressed in white, although she wasn't sure at all that she felt right about that. Yet the music was playing and it was time for her to walk down the aisle, so she gripped her father's arm and they began the journey.

The walk down the aisle seemed to take a very long time. Ralph and Betty were there, smiling happily, along with many of the same guests who had attended their own wedding not so terribly long ago. Dr. Scott was there in his wheelchair, and so was Janet's mother and Brad's parents, all of them looking pleased, happy for her.

_If only they knew..._

"Dearly beloved," the minister began. Brad's eyes were shining with love as he looked at his bride. She smiled up at him, optimistic, hopeful. _Maybe everything will be all right after all._

"Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Brad replied with no hesitation.

He lifted her veil and kissed her, and then they left the church with their guests cheering and throwing rice.

"Well, we did it!" Brad said proudly as they drove toward the motel.

"Are you happy Brad?"

"Of course I am." He gave her a look of concern. "Aren't you?"

"Very much so."

"Well, all right then." Brad switched on the car radio and scanned the dial, finally stopping on a news program. Janet would have preferred a music station, but she didn't say anything.

For the rest of the ride to the motel they chatted about ordinary, mundane things, the weather, the latest news stories, what their friends had been up to lately. Neither mentioned the events of that fateful night, but it was very much on both of their minds.

For dinner they stopped at a nice restaurant. "A toast...to us," Brad said, raising his glass. Janet had almost expected him to say "To absent friends."

* * *

That night she waited for him in the negligee she had bought especially for this night, her heart pounding in anticipation. This time it would be Brad, the man she loved...certainly it would be different from both the time with Frankie and the time with Rocky. That first time, with Frankie, she had been frightened and angry, and yet...aroused. The next time, with Rocky...that hadn't been planned at all, had been a spur of the moment decision based on both pity for the poor creature and...a fire inside her that Frankie had lit that was still burning.

Brad was remembering the sensation of Frankie's lips and tongue all over him, how wonderfully wet it had felt. He felt himself becoming incredibly aroused just by the memory of it, and yet...he couldn't ask Janet to do that, could he, especially not the first time.

Brad emerged from the bathroom wearing only his robe, which had a sash tied around the waist. He saw Janet waiting for him in her negligee, wearing a lusty smile, and it excited him all the more. He came to her and began to remove the negligee awkwardly. She helped him with the straps, and soon she was completely undressed. She pulled the sash of his robe and it came untied instantly.

"Oh, my...come here, you big boy."

He shrugged the robe off his shoulders, and it fell to the floor.

Janet's hands were all over him, expertly stroking him in just the right places. He lay on the bed beside her, parting her legs, his fingers eagerly searching for her most sensitive areas. He began to stroke her, clumsily at first, until her moans of pleasure let him know that he was doing it right. She pulled him over on top of her and at last he entered her for the first time.

For both of them it was a healing experience, Brad's first encounter of that kind with a woman, Janet's first with a man whom she loved and trusted. Their mutual fear that things could never really be right between them seemed abated as, with overwhelming relief, they both slowly drifted off to sleep on their honeymoon night.


	4. A Special Request

Brad and Janet had been married for several weeks. So far, their love life had been fine, but Brad just couldn't stop thinking about the sensation of Frankie's mouth on him and how awesome that had felt. Not that he didn't enjoy having conventional sex with Janet, because he did, very much so, in fact. But when he thought of Janet's mouth on him, just as Frankie's had been, it was not only enough to make him hard as a rock, it was almost enough to make him reach climax.

The problem was that he had no idea how to ask Janet for this special favor without fear of sounding like a pervert. Before the experience in Frankie's castle that night, he had always felt deeply ashamed when he even thought about discussing sexual matters with Janet. The events of that night had loosened him up considerably, but now that the memories were fading into the past, he could feel some of his old reservations returning.

On this particular night, both of them had enjoyed a romantic dinner by candlelight and had drank a couple of glasses of wine each, so they were feeling warm and drowsy and relaxed. There had been some suggestive hand-holding and sensual caresses under the table, and both of them knew what was coming next. Brad took Janet's hand and they walked into the bedroom together. As they reclined on the bed kissing passionately, Brad felt that the time was appropriate to mention his special request, if he could only get up the nerve to do so.

"Janet?" He broke off a long sensual kiss long enough to say her name.

"What is it, love?"

"Um..I don't exactly know how to say this, but...I'd really like for you to take me into your mouth this time."

_This is it, _he thought, expecting her to shriek in horror and slap his face. Instead, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?" she asked softly. "You know, I've been wondering myself what that might be like."

Brad's heart quickened with anticipation. Was she really willing to try it?

Janet unbuttoned his shirt and helped him to remove it. Then she left a trail of kisses all the way down his chest to his belly button. While kissing him, she put her hand over the large, uncomfortable bulge in his pants and caressed it. Finally, when he thought that he could stand it no longer, she gently unzipped his pants and removed both them and his underwear.

Janet slowly began to kiss his manhood, which stood stiffly erect. The sensation drove him wild with pleasure, but still, he longed for more. Janet licked the entire length of him, then took just the head into her mouth and sucked it ever so gently. He felt himself nearing climax and thought that perhaps he should warn her, but he just couldn't bring himself to. When he felt himself completely engulfed in the warm wetness of Janet's mouth, her tongue working busily to cover every inch of surface, he automatically began to thrust. Janet pulled away just in time, as the hot, viscous fluid shot from him in waves.

As Brad lay back on the bed to recover, Janet fetched a warm, wet rag from the bathroom and cleaned him up. Then Janet, still fully clothed herself, got into bed with Brad and let him take her into his arms.

"Oh, honey, that was awesome," he whispered. "Thank you so very much, from the bottom of my heart."

Janet just smiled.


	5. Turnabout's Fair Play

For a while, Brad just lay there, cuddling Janet close and waiting for his breath to return to normal.

"Hey, turnabout's fair play. That's what I've always said," he remarked, after a few minutes had passed. Janet smiled uncertainly. What exactly did he have in mind?

Brad raised himself up on one elbow and began kissing his wife. While doing so, he began to fondle her breasts through the fabric of her blouse. Janet felt her nipples became erect in response to his caresses.

He helped her remove her blouse and bra, and when she lay back down, he began to place soft kisses along her collarbone. Within a few minutes her nipples were aching to be touched. "Brad, please..."

Gradually, Brad moved his mouth to one nipple and began to gently suckle it. Janet's moans became more passionate, and she felt a burning desire between her legs. Brad's mouth moved to her other nipple as his hand slid to her crotch. As he began to move his fingers against the fabric of her pants, she began to move too, longing to feel him against her bare skin.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Brad removed her pants and underwear. She spread her legs as wide as she could, and he gently parted her with his fingers as he used his tongue to pleasure her in ways she had never before known. She came almost immediately, the sensation of his tongue and lips on her pushing her right over the edge.

Brad looked up and grinned at her. "I don't even have to ask whether or not you enjoyed that," he laughed.

Janet couldn't say anything. There were no words to describe it.

Brad was already hard again. He moved up to kiss her, and she tasted herself for the first time. Then he was inside her, thrusting, slowly at first, then building up speed. Janet clung to him and moved with him as they each reached their second climax.


	6. Funeral For A Friend

**August 1976**

"I just can't believe he's really gone." Janet sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief as Brad put a comforting arm around her. It was a bright, sunny, hot day as they stood under a canopy in the Denton cemetary. Ralph and Betty were there too, standing a short distance away. Janet and Betty were both crying, and both Brad's and Ralph's faces bore grave expressions.

"He explained covalent bonding to me in a way I had never heard it explained before. I can finally understand it now." Betty, who was eight months pregnant, rested a hand on her huge belly.

"He kindled my interest in quantum physics, and I've been fascinated by it ever since," Ralph added.

"You mean time travel?" Brad asked.

"Of course! If those little bitty subatomic particles can do it, why couldn't we?" Ralph's face became animated.

"If anyone could have discovered how to travel through time, it would have been him," said Janet. She was four months pregnant and was just beginning to show.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Happy anniversary, you too," Brad said to Ralph and Betty.

"What a way to spend our second anniversary," Betty moaned.

The four of them stared at where the casket containing the body of their former professor and dear friend, Dr. Everett Scott, rested above the freshly dug grave.

"And we first got engaged two years ago today," Brad added, smiling at his wife, who smiled back weakly.

"He never got over the loss of Eddie," Janet said mournfully. "I think it was that, more than anything else, that cut his life short."

"How exactly did Eddie die? That's always been something of a mystery to me," Betty said.

"Believe me, you're much better off not knowing." Janet shuddered involuntarily.

"Let's just say he got really eaten up over something," Brad said grimly.

Janet glared at him. "Have some sensitivity," she muttered.

"So, what kind of president do you think this Carter fellow's gonna make?" Ralph had moved on to politics.

"So you don't think Ford's even got a chance?" asked Brad, who thought that all Democrats were secretly Communists.

"Oh, heck no. Carter's got the election all wrapped up. You know Ford only got to be president by default anyway," Ralph said.

"That's not a nice thing to say at all," Betty retorted.

"But it's true," her husband insisted.

"Please, let's just talk about something else," Janet suggested. Neither she nor Betty were particularly interested in politics, and she didn't want a heated argument to happen on this sad day.

"Our little one is certainly lively today," Betty remarked, putting her hand on her belly again.

"Have you chosen names yet?" Janet's expression instantly changed from sorrow to keen interest.

"If it's a boy, we're going to name him Scott, of course," Betty replied. "If it's a girl, probably Jennifer or Heather or something like that. What about you?"

"Brad wants to name it after his father if it's a boy," Janet told her. "We haven't really talked about girls' names yet. We've got a ways to go anyway."

"Well, I think my poor wife's about to pass out from this heat," Ralph remarked.

"Oh, that's right. You'd better get right on home, you poor thing." Janet's voice was full of concern.

"Let's just hope our AC doesn't conk out on us. That would be a real disaster." Ralph rolled his eyes.

"Well, it was certainly wonderful to see you again. Just too bad it had to be under these circumstances," Brad said.

"You will visit us when the baby comes, I hope," Betty said.

"Oh, definitely. You can count on that," Brad assured her.

The two couples, eager to escape the heat, returned to their respective cars and drove back to their air conditioned homes.


	7. Parenthood

"She's simply the most beautiful baby in the world," Janet said as she held their newborn daughter, Charity Lynn Majors, who was sleeping peacefully in her arms.

"She certainly is," added Brad, who was sitting in a chair beside her hospital bed. He thought that he had never been happier in his life. His job was going well, he and Janet had a nice house, and now they had a beautiful new daughter. Brad had thought that it might be nice to have a boy first, but as soon as he saw Charity for the first time, all thoughts of a son were immediately forgotten.

Brad looked down at his sleeping daughter's face and felt an overwhelming love for her. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before in his life.

"Look how perfect her little fingers and toes are," Janet went on, examining them with fascination.

"I didn't realize they were going to be so tiny," remarked Brad, who had envisioned a baby the size of the ones he had seen in commercials.

"I wonder whether she's going to be an innie or an outie," said Janet, examining Charity's umbilical cord stump.

"I guess we'll find out soon," Brad chuckled.

Janet's parents visited first, then Brad's parents, then some other friends and family, including Ralph and Betty.

"How's little Scotty doing?" Janet asked them.

"He's doing great! Growing really fast. Just had his first round of vaccinations," Betty told her. She took a small wallet containing photographs from her purse to show Brad and Janet.

"He looks just like you, Ralph," Brad said.

"I see traces of Betty in him too," said Janet.

"We'll bring him over to visit sometime," Ralph offered.

"I'd love to meet him!" Janet said.

"Honey, I think we'd better leave so that Janet can get some rest. She's going to need it," Betty told her husband.

"Thank you so much for visiting," Janet said.

"No problem at all," said Ralph. "It was really great to see you guys again, and to meet your new little one of course."

Charity yawned and stretched.

"Oh, that's precious!" Betty exclaimed.

With all the new and mostly happy events in the lives of Brad and Janet, the memories of that fateful night were fading into the distance. They had never told anyone, not even Ralph and Betty, all the details of what had happened. Both of them were afraid that their friends would think that they had lost their minds. Perhaps some day they would muster the courage to tell them, but they didn't have any idea when that day would come.


	8. Telling Betty

**June 1977**

Janet and Betty were pushing Charity and Scotty in their strollers at the park. It was a warm, sunny day, and both women were wearing sleeveless dresses and sandals. Nine-month-old Scotty was sitting straight up in his stroller and talking baby talk, and five-month-old Charity, who wasn't quite able to sit up on her own yet, watched him solemnly with big, round eyes.

"You know, Janet, you never did tell me exactly what happened that night you and Brad had that flat tire on the way to see Dr. Scott."

"Well...it's kind of a long story, Betty. Some really crazy things happened that night. Brad and I still have a very hard time talking about it to anyone else."

"Well, you can tell me about it. I'm your best friend."

"Well, to start with...the place we went to for help...it was a castle."

"A castle? Right here in Denton?" Betty's mouth dropped open in shock.

Janet nodded. "And the people who lived in it...they weren't really human. They were from a planet called Transsexual in a galaxy called Transylvania."

"You mean...they were aliens? Little green men with antennae?"

Janet laughed and shook her head. "No green skin and no antennae. They looked pretty much like everyone else, but they do have some very strange...eating habits and sexual preferences."

"Like what?"

"Incest and...cannibalism."

Betty turned pale as a sheet. "You mean...Eddie? Dr. Scott's nephew?"

Janet nodded glumly.

"Oh God, Janet...I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Well, how do you think _I _felt? I ate dinner with them, and I had no idea..." Janet's voice trailed off.

"So how did you finally get away from them?"

"There was a mutiny. Riff Raff killed Frankie and Rocky and Columbia and he and Magenta beamed the castle back to Transsexual. Yep, just like on Star Trek."

"Whoa, back up there just a minute. Who are all those people you are talking about?"

Janet sighed. "Dr. Franken Furter, Frankie for short, was a mad scientist. Riff Raff and Magenta were his servants. They were brother and sister, and also lovers. Columbia was a groupie who was in love with Eddie, and Rocky was Frankie's creation."

"What do you mean, creation?"

"I don't know how he did it, but somehow, Frankie made him and brought him to life. I don't know if he used body parts from corpses like in the Frankenstein movie or what. Yeah, I know all of this sounds crazy, but I swear it's true, every word of it."

Betty was still shaking her head in disbelief. "Janet, if I hadn't known you for as long as I have, I'd say you belong in a mental hospital. Are you sure all that really happened? It wasn't just some horrible nightmare you had once?"

"Brad could tell you the same story I just did. He was there too."

Charity started whimpering.

"She's hungry," Janet said, fetching a bottle from the diaper bag. Then she sat on a park bench and fed her daughter. Betty took Scotty out of his stroller too and sat on the bench beside Janet holding him. Neither of them said anything for a long time.

"You know what? I'll bet you could sell that story to the 'National Inquirer' and make a lot of money from it," Betty finally told her friend.

"Oh, nobody believes those stories are really true. I don't want everyone to think that I'm just another nut case," Janet said.

"So, do you have any concrete evidence that it really happened? Anything that came from inside the castle or belonged to one of those - Transsexuals?"

Janet shook her head. "We were lucky just to get away from that place with our lives. Neither one of us even thought of grabbing any souveneirs on the way out."

"Well, why don't we go back to the place where the castle used to be and see if they left anything behind by accident?"

"That was almost three years ago, Betty. They've probably already built something else on that site by now."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt anything just to go back and see, would it?"

"Well...no, I guess not."

"I really want to believe your story, Janet, but it would be a lot easier if you had some tangible evidence. Let's talk to our husbands about it and see if they'll go back there with us on the weekend."

"That sounds like a plan," said Janet, but her voice lacked any enthusiasm whatsoever. The last thing she wanted to do was to rekindle the memories of that night. It had been difficult enough for her to finally tell Betty about it. To revisit the actual place where all those crazy things had happened would be even harder, she was sure.


	9. Cornelia Quinn

The following Saturday morning found Brad, Janet, Ralph, and Betty on the grounds where the castle had once stood. It was now just a vacant, overgrown field.

"With all the weeds, I don't think we're going to find much, except maybe a snake or two," Brad grumbled.

"Do be careful, honey," Janet urged him.

They spent most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon searching the grounds carefully, searching for any evidence that had been left behind by the strange individuals who had lived there three years previously.

"Hey, look at this!" Betty shouted. The other three looked up with interest.

"It's someone's driver's license. A woman named Cornelia Quinn. Wonder who in the world she is. Anyway, she's not from Denton."

Ralph took the card from his wife. "That town's not too far away. We could look up her phone number in the library." The public library contained telephone directories for the areas surrounding Denton.

Brad and Janet got back in their car and drove to the library. The phone number to match Cornelia Quinn's address was located with little difficulty, and Janet made the long distance call as soon as they returned home.

"Oh, I'm so glad you found my driver's license!" Cornelia Quinn told Janet. "It must have fallen out of my purse when I was looking for clues as to what had happened to my daughter. She disappeared three years ago, and I haven't heard a word from her since then."

"What was your daughter's name?"

"Columbia. She got involved with a biker named Eddie, and both of them got mixed up with some group of weirdos who called themselves Transsexuals. They all lived together in a...I guess you'd call it a _castle..._that was right at the location where you found my license. One day the whole bunch of them simply disappeared, even the building they were living in."

Janet was taken aback. She didn't know what to say. How did one tell a complete stranger that her daughter was dead?

"Do you know anything more about that?" Cornelia went on. "I've been searching for answers ever since they disappeared, but everyone I ask just looks at me like they think I'm crazy."

"Ma'am, I'm...I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but your daughter was killed in an accident. I saw her die." Janet felt worse than she had ever felt before.

"Oh, no!" Cornelia began to sob. "How did it happen?"

"Their leader, Dr. Franken Furter, had a handyman named Riff Raff whom he abused. One day Riff shot and killed Frankie in revenge. Columbia and a guy named Rocky were also killed. She didn't suffer any pain at all. She died instantaneously."

"What about Eddie?"

"He had already been killed earlier by Frankie." Janet didn't want to go into any of the gruesome details.

"Oh dear God," Cornelia moaned. "How will I ever tell Roger?"

"Roger?"

"Columbia and Eddie's son. He's only five years old. How will I ever tell him his parents are dead?"

"Columbia and Eddie have a _son?" _Janet was shocked.

"He's lived with me since he was a few months old. Columbia asked if I would raise him. She said she knew the environment she was living in was no good to bring a child up in." Cornelia sighed. "How I wish Columbia had stayed with me too! But she was determined to be with Eddie, and totally hung up on that evil Dr. Franken Furter fellow. I tried so hard to get her not to go back, but all my pleas fell on deaf ears."

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Quinn."

"Please, call me Cornelia."

"I just wish there was something I could say to make you feel better."

"Did you know Columbia well?"

"No, I had just met her the night she died."

"I wish you could have known her better. She was such a bright and cheerful person, so full of life...could you please give me directions to where you are so that I can come pick up my license?"

"Oh, that's okay. Brad and I will take it to you. It's no trouble at all."

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind? I'd be ever so grateful."

"Oh no, we'd be happy to."

"Thank you, and good-bye."

Janet couldn't wait to tell Brad the incredible news.


	10. Half A Brain

"I guess this must be the place," Brad said, pulling up in front of a row of trailers. Many lawn ornaments were out in front, arranged in no particular pattern, and children's toys were scattered about in a very disorderly fashion. The trailers were nearly identical except for the numbers above them. Brad and Janet got out of the car and walked to trailer number three. Janet carried Charity, who was dressed in a frilly pink-and-white jumper and matching hat and had tiny white sandals on her feet.

Brad tried the doorbell, but it seemed to be broken, so he knocked on the door. A woman in a shapeless dress, hair up in curlers, opened it.

"Hey there, you must be Brad and Janet. Come on in." Toys littered the floor, and a chubby little boy with brown hair and eyes who was dressed in a cowboy outfit stood playing with a toy gun. When Brad and Janet stepped inside, he put the toy gun down and approached them.

"Did you bring any cookies with you?" he asked.

"Shut up, Roger! You've had plenty enough to eat already. I've half a brain to put you on a diet, the way you eat," scolded Cornelia.

"Half a brain! Half a brain!" screeched Roger, bouncing around the room. Cornelia glared at him, and he became quiet and still.

"Would you like some coffee?" asked Cornelia.

"Yes, please," said Janet, unhooking Charity's fingers from her earring.

Roger began to sing under his breath. _"Hot patootie, bless my soul...I really love that rock and roll..."_

"He sings that all the time," Cornelia said. "I have no idea where he got it from."

Soon the coffee was ready, and the three adults sat down on the sofa with mugs in their hands.

"Columbia was always really into hero worship," Cornelia began. "She thought that James Dean was the most wonderful individual to ever walk the face of the earth. After that it was Timothy Leary, then Jim Morrison of the Doors. Dr. Franken Furter was this Charles Manson type she found one day and started following around. Eddie was a delivery boy who had also become one of Frankie's followers. Columbia fell for him right away. I took one look at him and knew that he was nothing but a low-down cheap little punk..."

"Don't you dare say bad things about my daddy!" Roger yelled.

"You never knew your daddy, so you don't know what kind of person he was," Cornelia retorted. "Anyway, Columbia thought Eddie was wonderful, kind of a real-life version of the celebrities she had always idolized. Anyway, Columbia and Eddie both moved into the castle and I didn't see her at all for such a long time that I began to wonder whether she was still alive. Then one day, out of the blue, she showed up on my doorstep with a baby."

"Frankie had really gone crazy, she told me. He had operated on Eddie without even using an anesthetic. She had just walked into the room and found Eddie sitting in a daze with blood all over his head. She got him cleaned up and found that Frankie had completely sawed off the top of Eddie's skull and then sutured it back. She said that Eddie was never the same after that, and she began to be afraid that Frankie was going to hurt Roger too."

"So I took Roger in and cared for him as my own. What else could I have done? That was the last time I ever saw my daughter alive. All this time I've been hoping against hope that she was still alive somewhere, that she had somehow escaped the craziness and would eventually find her way back to me. Then I received your phone call and finally knew for sure that it was not to be, that I would never see Columbia again. Ever."

Janet put a comforting hand on the other woman's arm. "I'm so sorry," she said.

"That's all right. At least now I can have some sense of closure. I only wish that there was some way to find her body. Then there would at least be a grave that I could visit."

Janet didn't know what to say. Columbia's body, as well as those of Frankie, Rocky, and what remained of Eddie, was in a castle hurtling through space. At least, as far as she knew, it was.


	11. With A Little Help From Some Friends

Brad and Janet sat in the office of Dr. Scott Everett, associate professor and former colleage of the late Dr. Everett Scott. Dr. Everett was a couple of decades younger than Dr. Scott had been, with a full head of medium brown hair and friendly blue eyes behind spectacles.

"I'm sorry to say that we have so far had no luck at all with locating the planet Transsexual within the galaxy of Transylvania, so, needless to say, it is therefore impossible to establish communication with its occupants at this time."

Brad and Janet were crestfallen. They had so hoped that Dr. Everett would be able to help them to retrieve Columbia's body for her mother.

"There is, however, another solution to your dilemma. We of the university's science department have recently managed to perfect the world's first functional time machine."

"You see, by exceeding the speed of light, we are able to enter alternate universes. By entering a certain date, we can travel to a universe in which everything is just as it was on earth at that particular date. In short, we can go back in time and rescue your friends before they are murdered."

Brad and Janet looked at one another, both of them thinking the same thing. _This sounds too good to be true._

"But how will we get into the castle a second time?" asked Janet.

"I have a friend who owes me a favor, a certain Willie Wonka. He will accompany you to the castle and will go ahead of you and ring the doorbell. When Riff Raff opens the door and sees that it really _is _the candyman, he'll be distracted enough that you'll be able to sneak past him into the castle."

"That sounds so crazy it just might work," Brad said.

* * *

On the appointed day, at the appointed time, Brad and Janet met Dr. Everett at his time machine. Accompanying Dr. Everett was a tall man in a purple overcoat and brown top hat.

"Greetings, fellow time travelers. Willie Wonka at your service," he said to them. "My good friend Dr. Everett said that he needs my assistance in escorting you good folks to an alternate universe. Of course, all universes are more or less the same to me."

"Except, of course, for those that have triple chocolate fudge. Those are my particular favorites," he said to Janet in a voice that was very nearly a whisper.

"But, I digress. Come along, come along. An adventure awaits."

The four of them boarded the time machine, Dr. Everett set the date, and they were off. As the time machine descended on the appropriate night, Janet groaned.

"Ugh! I forgot how rainy it was that night."

"Never fear, my friends! I have the perfect solution. Edible umbrellas!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed, taking them out of his overcoat and distributing them to the others. "I call them _yum_brellas. Never again will you have to worry about what to do with your wet, dripping umbrella after you bring it inside. You can simply eat it!"

They arrived at the door of the castle, and Mr. Wonka went ahead and rang the doorbell. A moment later, Riff Raff opened the door. "You're...not wet," he said.

"No, my dear sir, thanks to my wonderful new invention," Mr. Wonka began. Riff Raff was instantly captivated, and Dr. Everett, Brad, and Janet snuck past him, found a niche to hide in, and waited for the dancing to begin. When the unconventional conventionalists began to do the Time Warp, Janet almost forgot herself and joined them. Brad had to hold her back.

Soon the elevator bearing Dr. Franken Furter arrived, and it was time for everyone to come up to the lab and see what was on the slab. Janet had to gasp at the sight of the three-years-younger versions of herself and Brad standing there in white lab coats looking bewildered and lost. Brad gave her a comforting hug.

Frankie began the process of bringing Rocky to life. Rocky rose from his tank and sang 'Sword of Damacles' just as Brad and Janet remembered, then stood beside his creator, when suddenly Eddie burst through the wall on his motorcycle singing 'Hot Patootie.' He scooped Columbia up and sat her on the motorcycle with him.

"Now!" Dr. Everett whispered.

Willie Wonka, who had rejoined the group after handing Riff a few samples of candy, stepped toward Frankie and opened his overcoat to show his new audience the treasures inside it. While Frankie was salivating over the things Mr. Wonka was showing him, Brad and Janet, with Dr. Everett's help, were able to sneak Eddie and Columbia out of the castle. They arrived at the time machine, Eddie and Columbia still aboard the motorcycle, to await Mr. Wonka, who joined them after leaving Frankie and the others with enough samples of candy to last them six months.

"Back to 1977!" announced Dr. Everett, setting the date and waiting for the time machine to start. Nothing happened.

"Oh, no," Dr. Everett groaned. "I was afraid that this might happen."


	12. Back To The Drawing Board

"The inner mechanisms of the time machine have become wet with rain and thus temporarily nonfunctional. We'll have to wait for them to dry out before we can leave," Dr. Everett said glumly.

"How long will that take?" asked Brad.

"A couple of hours, tops," replied Dr. Everett.

"Hey, wait. I just thought of something," said Brad. He opened the time machine's door, and, checking to make sure that the coast was clear, looked around. Sure enough, there was Dr. Scott's car, from which the 1974 version of the gentleman was just now emerging. Brad waved a hand in greeting, and Dr. Scott rolled his wheelchair in their direction.

"What on earth is going on?" he asked.

"We are from the future," Dr. Everett explained. "We have traveled back in time to save Eddie and Columbia."

"Uncle Everett!" Eddie greeted Dr. Scott.

"There you are, boy," Dr. Scott said. "I've been searching for you ever since your dear mother passed. I got your note and hurried right over. I knew that you were out of your head and may soon be dead, so I wanted to make sure that I got here before they carried out their evil deed. Even though you really are a low down, cheap little punk, you _are_ still family."

"You're welcome to return to 1977 with us," Dr. Everett said.

"Oh, no," Dr. Scott said with a low chuckle. "There would be no place for me in your world. Now that I've seen for myself that Eddie is out of danger, I'll just be on my way."

A couple of hours later, the group was off. As they emerged from the time machine, Brad and Janet got the vague feeling that something wasn't quite right. The world was the same and yet different. Cars were a little different, clothing was a little different, hair and music were _way _different.

"Excuse me," Dr. Everett said to a passerby. "What year is this?"

The man gaped. "You don't even know what year it is? What's wrong with you?"

"Please, sir, we are time travelers," Dr. Everett said.

_"Time _travelers?" The man slapped his thigh and burst out laughing. Looking enraged, Eddie got off his motorcycle and advanced toward the man. Both his hands were balled into fists.

"Oh...it's...uh...1987. That's what year it is," the man squeaked nervously before turning and bolting.

"Shoot." Dr. Everett shook his head, looking disgusted with himself."I accidentally put in an '8' for the decade instead of a '7'. Boy, do I feel stupid."

"That's all right," Brad comforted him. "We all make an occasional mistake."

"Well, back to the drawing board," Dr. Everett said with a deep sigh, once again turning his attention to the time machine's control panel.


	13. The Return

Dr. Everett got it right on the next attempt, and Brad and Janet were once again in 1977, this time with their refugees from the past in tow. The group left the time machine and were back in Dr. Everett's lab, where the whole adventure had begun.

"Well, now, I must hurry along," Willie Wonka said in his crisp, no-nonsense style. "I've got places to be, people to see."

Eddie revved up his motorcycle's engine and prepared to take off down the hall.

"Need I remind you that this is a university?" Dr. Everett asked him pointedly.

Eddie ignored him, and with Columbia riding on the seat in front of him, began singing 'Hot Patootie' once more.

As the motorcycle raced down the hallway, heads popped out of offices and classrooms as professors, students, and staff members came to see what all the commotion was about. One by one, the spectators shook their heads in disbelief and returned from whence they had come.

"How will we ever catch up to them?" Janet asked Brad as they got back into their car in the university's parking lot.

"We'll simply drive around until we see them. They can't have gone very far," Brad replied.

A few minutes later, they were driving slowly down the road leading away from the university. They turned onto the main highway and had gone a couple of miles when they saw a young woman standing by the side of the road, gesturing frantically. As they got closer, they realized that the young woman was Columbia.

"Somebody help! My boyfriend's hurt!" Columbia shrieked.

After stopping the car, Brad and Janet saw the overturned motorcycle and noticed that there was a trail of blood leading away from it towards the woods beside the road.


	14. Eddie

Brad and Janet stopped the car and got out. Columbia saw them and ran over to them.

"Eddie's hurt real bad!" she squealed.

They followed as she led them to the spot where Eddie lay unconscious. He had hit his head on a rock, and the wound was bleeding heavily.

"He won't wake up and I can't move him! He's too heavy!" Columbia squealed in despair.

"Perhaps the three of us together can lift him and carry him back to the car," Brad suggested. He, Janet, and Columbia all together were just barely able to lift Eddie's body enough to scoot it along the ground. When they reached the car, a supreme effort from all three of them was required to lift him into the back seat.

Brad drove to the emergency room as quickly as he could, and then Janet and Columbia stayed with Eddie while he went inside to ask for help.

A couple of orderlies brought a stretcher out to the car and lifted Eddie onto it. Then they all went into the emergency room together. Eddie was immediately taken back into triage, and the other three were left to wait in the waiting room. After about thirty minutes, a nurse came out to update them on Eddie's condition.

"His wound has been cleaned and stitched shut, and he's starting to come around. The doctor wants to do a cat scan and x-ray to find out whether he has a concussion or skull fracture."

Several hours passed. The next person to come and talk to them was a doctor, shaking his head in disbelief.

"There's no evidence of either a fracture or a concussion, but right now that's the least of our worries," the doctor said. "What I'd like to know is, why is this man alive at all when he has only _half a brain? _We found the scars where his skull had been opened and the tissue removed. Who on earth would do a thing like that, and why?"

"'Who' was Frankie, and 'why' was because he needed half of Eddie's brain for Rocky," Columbia said.

"Whoa! Back up a minute there! Who are Frankie and Rocky?"

"Frankie was Dr. Franken Furter," Columbia explained. "He was a scientist from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. Rocky was his creation."

The doctor only stared, unable to believe his ears.

"You'd have to see it to believe it," Columbia added.

"Of that, I'm sure," the doctor replied. "In the meantime, we need to keep your friend here for awhile and do extensive testing to determine how much brain function he actually has left and how the loss of half his brain can be compensated for."

"Is he gonna be all right?" Columbia asked.

"I don't know. It will depend on what the testing shows," the doctor told her.

"I'm not leaving until I know he's gonna be all right," Columbia said.

"It could take several days to determine that."

"So I'll sleep in the waiting room."

"You're welcome to come home with us," Janet offered. "Our sofa would be a lot more comfortable to sleep on than chairs in the waiting room."

"No, thanks. You two go on," Columbia said. "I'm staying right here until Eddie wakes up and talks to me."

"All right," Janet said resignedly. "We'll be back tomorrow to check on you. Call us if there's any news."

They left to pick Charity up from Janet's parents, who had babysat for the day. When they arrived, Mrs. Weiss was holding Charity. The baby's face was flushed, and she was whimpering.

"Her temperature seems to be pretty high," Mrs. Weiss told them. She looked very worried.

"Oh, my poor baby." Janet took Charity from her mother and was shocked to discover how hot her daughter's body truly felt.

"The doctor wouldn't be open at this hour. We'll just have to take her to the hospital," Brad said.


	15. Back To The Hospital

Hurriedly buckling their daughter into her car seat, Brad and Janet turned around and drove back to the hospital. When they arrived, they rushed to find a parking space, then took Charity out of her car seat and dashed into the emergency room.

"Please, my baby's really sick," Janet said to the receptionist, who glanced quickly at Charity and then back down to the chart she was holding.

"Sign in and have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly," she said dispassionately, indicating a notepad with a pen attached. Janet wrote Charity's name on the notepad, and they glanced around the waiting room and saw Columbia curled up asleep in a seat. Quietly, so as not to awaken her, they sat beside her. By now, Charity was asleep in Janet's arms.

About thirty minutes later, Charity's name was called, and they were led into a little room adjoining the waiting room.

"Aw, poor little girl," the nurse said, lightly touching the top of Charity's head. Charity's blue eyes blinked, and the little girl solemnly watched the nurse's every move, protesting slightly when she was taken from her mother's arms and laid on the scale.

"One hundred three degrees," the nurse announced after taking Charity's temperature. Janet's eyebrows knit with worry, and Brad put his arms around her comfortingly.

"Please have a seat in the waiting room, and the doctor will be with you in a little while," the nurse told them. When they returned to their seat in the waiting room, they saw that Columbia was now awake and sitting up in her seat. Her face registered surprise, then delight.

"Is this your little girl? Aww, she's so cute!"

"Thank you," Janet said. "When we got back to my parents' house, my mom told us she was running a high fever, so we brought her right back here."

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Charity," Janet told her.

"Hi there, Charity!" Columbia said. Charity just stared silently at her.

"Can I hold her?"

"Of course!"

Columbia reached for Charity, and the little girl shyly hid her face in the front of Janet's dress.

"Aww, come see Aunty Columbia," Columbia coaxed, and with some reluctance, the little girl released her tight hold on her mother's clothing.

"You're such a cutie. Did you know that?" Columbia cooed. Charity smiled at her.

"Oh, just look at that gorgeous smile!" Columbia said. She held Charity and talked softly to her for a few minutes.

After a long time, the doctor finally called Charity's name. He examined her and told Brad and Janet that she most likely had strep throat, pending lab results. He prescribed antibiotics and pain medication for her.

Brad and Janet returned to the waiting room to say good-bye to Columbia, but to their surprise, she had disappeared.

"Come on, Brad. We need to get Charity's medicine filled," Janet said nervously.

"Well, since we're here anyway, we might as well wait a few minutes to see if she comes back. She might have just had to use the bathroom or something," Brad said.

They were just about to give up and go home when Columbia finally appeared, a look of utter panic on her face.

"Eddie just disappeared from the room he was in, and nobody can find him anywhere!" she told them.


	16. Kidnapped!

Brad and Janet exchanged glances, stunned. Was Eddie hiding somewhere, or had he actually left the hospital? With his head injury, how far could he have gone?

Charity began whimpering, and Janet was jolted back to the present.

"Oh, your little one!" Columbia exclaimed. "Is she all right?"

"She has strep throat. We have some prescriptions for antibiotics and pain meds that we need to get filled."

"Well, you'd better hurry along then." Columbia patted Janet's arm. "I'll let you know just as soon as there's any news about Eddie."

* * *

Brad and Janet returned to their car and silently drove home. Janet gave Charity infant painkiller and rocked her to sleep, and then an exhausted Brad and Janet got into bed and were asleep themselves very soon. The next morning they went to the pharmacy and got Charity's meds filled.

It was after dinner that day before they finally heard from Columbia.

"Eddie's in jail. He was arrested for kidnapping," she told Janet. "He escaped from the hospital and hitchhiked back to where his motorcycle was left. Then he rode to my mom's trailer, forced his way in, grabbed Roger, and rode away with him on his motorcycle. Oh, I never told you about Roger, did I? He's me and Eddie's son...it's kind of a long story...well, anyway, my mom got hysterical and called the cops, and they caught Eddie and arrested him and returned Roger to my mom. That's where I am now. My mom was overjoyed to see me again. She thought I was dead."

"Eddie was able to do all of that with a head injury?" Janet was incredulous.

"It must have just been a flesh injury, not as serious as it looked," Columbia said.

"So what's gonna happen now?"

"I don't have the money to bail Eddie out of jail, and my mom refuses to do it. She's still pretty angry about what happened. I've tried talking to her, telling her that Roger is Eddie's son and that Eddie missed him, but she just said that Eddie should have called ahead first instead of just barging in and taking Roger, which I know is right, but..." Columbia had been talking so fast that she had to slow down and take a breath.

"Boy, what a mess," Janet sympathized. "What about poor little Roger? Is he all right?"

"He keeps crying and saying that he wants to go back with his daddy on the motorcycle. My mom's tried just about everything to get him calmed down, but so far, nothing's working."

"So are you and Roger just going to stay on there with your mom for awhile then?"

"For the time being. I'm gonna try to find some kind of job and start saving up my money so I can get Eddie out of jail, since I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get my mom to drop the kidnapping charges."

"Well, I'm glad that at least you're back with your mom and Roger," Janet said. "And I hope that you can convince her to drop the kidnapping charges against Eddie."

"Thanks, Janet. I'll keep you posted. I hope that Charity gets better soon, too."

"Thanks," Janet said. She hung the phone up and told Brad what had happened.

"Whew, what a story! Roger _is _Eddie's son, of course, but I agree with Cornelia that he should have gone about it a different way. I hope it all works out okay for them," Brad said.

Just then, Charity woke up and started crying, and Janet went to comfort her.


	17. Hidden Talent

Columbia called with more news about Eddie several days later. "The people at the jail found out that he had never been released from the hospital, so they had him re-admitted. That's where he is now. They're running tests on him to determine how much brain function he has left, and then they're going to start him on physical therapy. My mom's calmed down a lot. She says she'll drop the kidnapping charges as long as Eddie stays in the hospital for as long as he's supposed to and never does anything like that again."

"That's great news!" said Janet.

"How's your little girl doing?" asked Columbia.

"She's fine! Back to her normal, happy self again. She still has a few days left on the antibiotics, though." Charity gurgled happily as she played with Brad's keys, dropping them and then waiting for him to pick them back up again.

"Well, make sure she takes all of them. That's very important," Columbia said. They exchanged good-byes and hung up.

* * *

Eddie was in the hospital for almost a month. It was determined that the half of his brain that he had left could be trained to take over the functions of the half that was lost. The part of his brain that controlled verbal function and creativity was just fine. It was the part of his brain that controlled logic, such as that needed for solving mathematical equations, that was gone. The therapists had to start at the very beginning with Eddie, teaching him first how to count, then simple addition and subtraction. Another interesting development was that Eddie, who had been right-handed before, was now left-handed.

After Eddie was discharged from the hospital, he was enrolled in a vocational rehabilitation program in which he would be trained to become a mechanic. In the meantime, he and Columbia and Roger would continue to live in Cornelia's trailer.

One day not long after Eddie had been released from the hospital, Brad, Janet, and Charity paid the family a visit. Ralph and Betty, who had long been eager to meet Eddie and Columbia, came with them, bringing along their little boy, Scotty.

Brad and Janet were amazed to see the changes in Eddie since the last time they had seen him. He was clean, neatly dressed, and actually polite, even.

"It's good to see you folks again," he said with a smile.

"It's good to see you again too, Eddie," said Brad. "These are our friends Ralph and Betty and their son, Scotty."

"It's so nice to meet you." Columbia emerged from the kitchen to shake Ralph's and Betty's hands. "Have a seat. Sorry the sofa's a little lumpy."

"Oh, that's all right," Betty assured her.

"Roger, why don't you get out your blocks for Charity and Scotty to play with?" Columbia told her son. Roger made a face but did as he was told. Janet and Betty sat Charity and Scotty down on the floor in front of the blocks.

"See, this is how they go together," Roger said, showing the babies how to play with the blocks.

"I've been practicing a new song," Eddie said. "Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course we would!" Brad and Janet told him.

Eddie got out his guitar and began to sing. Everyone listened in awe to Eddie's rich tenor voice singing the words of the song. The song he sang now was melodic and soulful, a very different type of song from 'Hot Patootie."

"We let the past slip away and put the future on hold, now the present is nothing but a hollowed out dream..."

Everyone applauded when Eddie had finished singing.

"Bravo!" said all the adults.

Eddie blushed a little and smiled shyly. "Do you really think it was that good?"

"It was wonderful, Eddie," Janet assured him. Eddie's song had made her cry a little, and she dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. "You're well on your way to becoming the next new singing sensation."

"That's my man!" said Columbia, smiling proudly as she put her arms around Eddie.


	18. Pygar

_A/N: Pygar is a character from the 1968 movie 'Barbarella' which I decided to cross over with this chapter._

**1991**

Charity Lynn Majors felt lonely as she walked home from school one day. Scotty Hapschatt usually walked home with her, but today he was home sick, so Charity had to walk home alone.

Charity debated whether or not she should take the shortcut through the woods that she and Scotty usually took. She was concerned about whether or not that would be safe for a girl alone. Then she remembered that she was expecting her copy of 'American Girl' to arrive in the mail that day and decided to take the chance.

She was almost home when she heard movement behind a bush. Terrified, she stood frozen to the spot, and a moment later, the strangest man she had ever seen emerged. He was very tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, and there were wings on his back.

"Don't be afraid," he told Charity. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Who are you?" asked Charity.

"I'm Pygar, the last of the ornithanthropes," the man said.

"Ornithanthropes?"

"Bird-men. I fell through a rip in the fabric of space-time and landed in your dimension. In the process, my wing was torn, and I'm in a great deal of pain."

Charity noticed that one of his wings did appear to be bent at an unusual angle and sagged helplessly toward the ground.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Charity exclaimed. "Here, let me help you." She did her best to hold the broken wing in place. "We're almost to my house. My mom can help bandage your wing."

"You're very kind," Pygar said.

"Come on. It's this way," said Charity, wondering why he hesitated.

"I'm blind," Pygar explained.

"Oh...well, don't be afraid. I'll take you there." She took his hand and led him forward.

Janet saw them coming and opened the door. She looked at Pygar questioningly.

"Mom, this is Pygar," Charity told her mother. "He's an ornith...ornith..."

"Ornithanthrope." Pygar smiled. "I'm from the year forty thousand. I fell through a rip in the fabric of space-time and landed in your dimension, damaging my wing in the process."

"Why, you poor dear!" Janet exclaimed. "Come in and let me help you." Janet led Pygar into the living room and helped him to sit on the sofa. In the process he accidentally bumped his injured wing and let out a yelp of pain.

"Fetch me a splint and some gauze and medical tape from the medicine cabinet," Janet told her daughter. Charity did so, and the two of them bandaged Pygar's wing as well as they could.

"There now, is that better?" Janet asked when they were finished.

"Much," said Pygar. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," said Janet. "You're welcome to stay and rest for as long as you like."

Charity's younger sisters, eleven-year-old Trinity and nine-year-old Destiny, heard the commotion and came out of their bedrooms to stare at Pygar. They both commenced asking him question after question, and he answered them patiently.

After awhile Janet started dinner, and Brad arrived home from work.

"This is Pygar," Janet told her husband. "He's an ornithanthrope from the year forty thousand. He fell into our dimension and hurt his wing. I told him he could stay here until he was better."

"I see." Brad frowned.

"Please join us," Janet said to Pygar. "There's plenty of food for all." Brad looked sulky. He didn't say a word throughout the entire meal.

That night Janet got some pillows and blankets and told Pygar that he could sleep on their sofa. "You're too kind," he told her.

"What's he _really _doing here?" Brad asked through his teeth when Janet entered their bedroom that night.

"Why, it's just as he told us," Janet said. "He injured his wing, and Charity brought him home for help."

"He's practically naked!" Brad exploded.

"Shh, he'll hear you!" Janet whispered fiercely. "I'm sure that everyone dresses like that where he comes from. At least he's not in fishnets and heels."

"Well, I don't trust him," Brad said coldly. "And I want him gone before the end of the day tomorrow. Understood?"


	19. Pygar Returns

When the family awakened the next morning, Charity was dismayed to find that Pygar was gone.

"Good riddance," Brad said smugly. Janet frowned at him.

"He didn't even say good-bye," Charity said with a little sniffle. "I do hope that he's all right and that nothing bad happened to him."

On the sofa she found a single white feather. Making sure that her father wasn't looking, she picked it up and took it to her bedroom, where she secured it in the locked chest where she kept her most prized possessions.

* * *

Four years later, Charity was attending university and living in a dorm. One day her roommate had gone shopping and she was alone in the dorm when she saw Pygar crouched on the windowsill outside her window, his wings folded behind him.

"Pygar!" Charity quickly opened the window so that he could climb in. "Why did you leave without even saying good-bye?"

"I had to leave. Your father didn't want me there," Pygar told her.

"I was so worried about you!" Charity exclaimed. She rushed to her chest, unlocked it, and retrieved the feather. "You left this behind."

"You kept it all this time." Pygar was obviously touched.

"How's your wing?" asked Charity.

"It's just fine now." Pygar smiled and flapped both wings in demonstration.

"Where did you go when you left our house?" Charity wanted to know.

"I stayed with some friends until my wing healed, and then I returned to my home," Pygar told her.

"I never forgot you. I always hoped you'd come back to me some day," said Charity.

"I never forgot you either," said Pygar. "I waited until you were an adult and no longer living in your father's home, and then as soon as I saw an opportunity, I returned to you."

"Well, I'm awfully glad you did!" Charity exclaimed. "Pygar, have you ever heard of a planet called Transsexual?"

"It's a lovely world," Pygar said. "I've been there many times. Perhaps I could take you there some day. How did you learn of it?"

"Before I was born, my parents got a flat tire one night and went to a castle to ask to use their phone. The people who owned the castle were Transsexuals, and the next morning they beamed the castle back to their planet."

"Transsexual is only one of the many interesting places in the universe I've visited," Pygar said.

"What's it like?"

"The star it revolves around is a dark star, so it's always night there. However, its moon shines very brightly, much more brightly than earth's moon does, so being able to see well enough to go about your daily business is no problem. Are you free this weekend?"

"Actually, I am! Monday's a holiday so there aren't any exams to study for."

"Would you like for me to take you to Transsexual, then?"

"Oh, yes!" Charity jumped up and down clapping her hands.

"It's a date, then." Pygar grinned.

Charity heard footsteps outside the dorm. "My roommate's coming back," she said apprehensively.

"I must leave, then," Pygar said. "May I kiss you good-bye first?"

"Of course," said Charity.

Pygar kissed her lips and caressed the side of her face. "Good-bye, then. I'll return for you this weekend." He flew out the window just as Charity's roommate opened the door and entered the dorm carrying several big bags.


	20. Charity's Secret

It was on the moon-drenched shores of Transsexual that Charity Majors lost her virginity to Pygar the ornithanthrope. No sooner had they touched down on the planet's surface than Charity was overcome with an overwhelming desire, and she spread her legs and began to touch herself. Pygar looked puzzled.

"Touch me," she moaned. "I want you to touch me."

Pygar did, and she began to writhe with pleasure.

"I want to feel your fingers on my bare skin," she told him. Quickly she shed her undergarments, and her moans became louder as Pygar's fingers stroked her moist intimate folds and touched her most sensitive spot. She moaned with pleasure as he brought her to climax, and then she tugged at the feathered garment covering his privates. It soon fell away, and he stood before her naked.

"Oh, Pygar," she breathed, caressing him. She'd played doctor with Scotty Hapschatt a few times when they were kids, but this was the very first time she'd ever seen a naked adult male.

* * *

When Charity returned to earth, she felt deeply ashamed when she remembered her behavior on Transsexual. It hadn't been like her to act that way at all. _That must be the effect a visit to Transsexual has on humans, _she reasoned. _In that case, I suppose __I should stay away from it._

Several months passed, and school closed for the winter holidays. As Charity prepared to return to her parents' home, she wondered how on earth she'd tell them her secret. They'd be upset, she knew. The object was to think of how to tell them in a way that would make them no more upset than absolutely necessary.

In the meantime, Brad and Janet looked forward to seeing their oldest daughter again. To them, it seemed ages since she'd left for college.

"Darling!" Janet exclaimed when she opened the door and saw Charity.

"Mom! Dad!" Charity hugged each of her parents in turn. "It's so nice to be home!"

"It's lovely to see you again as well, sweetheart," said Brad. "Come on in and make yourself comfortable."

Trinity and Destiny came out of their bedrooms to great their older sister.

"What's college like?" asked Trinity.

"Just like high school, except much harder," Charity told her.

"Are there a lot of cute guys?" asked Destiny.

"I suppose so. I haven't really had time to notice."

Later, after they'd finished dinner and Charity had helped Janet with the dishes, she decided that she may as well tell them and get it over with.

"Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you." She took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

Brad's face turned red with fury. "Who's responsible for this?" he roared.

"I don't know," Charity lied. "I was at this party, and I guess I must have drank too much, because the next morning I woke up on a mattress naked and the guy was gone."

"How could you have _been _so irresponsible?" Brad shouted.

"Don't shout at her, honey." Janet patted her husband's arm in an attempt to calm him down. "Can't you see how scared she is?"

"I'm really sorry, Daddy." Charity was crying now. "I don't know why I did it, but I promise nothing like that will ever happen again."

"Well, it's a little late for being sorry now, isn't it?" Brad snarled.

"I'm sorry, Mom." Charity appealed to her mother.

"Oh, sweetheart, it's going to be all right." Janet hold her daughter close and comforted her. "Everything's going to be all right."


	21. Rocky

Brad continued to look annoyed.

"Please, darling, let's not allow this to spoil the entire visit," Janet begged him.

"I think it's great!" Destiny exclaimed. "Trinity and I are going to be aunts!"

"Charity's going to be a _single _mother, Destiny," said Trinity. "That's a _lot _of responsibility."

"But she has us to help," Destiny pointed out.

"What can _you _do? You're only thirteen years old!" Trinity scoffed.

"I'm old enough to babysit," Destiny argued.

"What are you going to do about school?" Trinity asked her older sister.

"I'm not sure yet," Charity admitted. "Since the baby isn't due until the summer, I should be able to finish the spring term. I suppose I'll have to take some time off after that. Maybe I'll try to get a job or something."

_"Someone's _going to have to support this child," Brad pointed out.

"Honey, this is your _grandchild _we're talking about," said Janet.

"I know. I'm sorry," Brad said gruffly. "Of _course _I'll help out as much as I can. I'd just love to wring the neck of the fellow who did this to _my _little girl. That's all."

"I'm not your little girl anymore, Dad," Charity said.

* * *

When the spring term at college ended, Charity went back home for the summer. Janet was alarmed to see how huge her belly had grown.

"Are you sure there's really only one baby in there?" she asked.

"Yes, there's definitely only one." Charity laughed.

"Wow," said Trinity when she and Destiny saw their older sister.

"Would you like to feel the baby move?" Charity asked them.

Both girls placed their hands on Charity's swollen belly. After a few minutes, Destiny giggled.

"The baby's kicking me!" she exclaimed.

Brad's eyes grew wide at the sight of his very pregnant daughter, but he didn't say anything.

Charity had been home for a couple of weeks when she went into labor. Brad drove his wife and daughter to the hospital. He waited in the waiting room, just as he had when Charity herself had been born, while Janet accompanied Charity into the labor and delivery room.

After twelve hours of labor, a baby boy was born. He was beautiful, with silky blond hair, blue eyes, and tiny, undeveloped wings on his back.

"Oh, no!" Janet sobbed. "My grandson is deformed!"

"No he isn't, Mom. It's perfectly normal for him to have wings," Charity quickly assured her. "His father has wings, too. Remember Pygar? Pygar's his father."

"Charity! Why did you lie to us?" asked Janet.

"You know how Dad would have reacted if he'd known Pygar was the father. He would have had a cow!"

_"That's _true enough." Janet rolled her eyes.

"He's such a unique baby, Mom." Charity gazed adoringly at her new son. "I think he needs a unique name as well. Don't you?"

"Absolutely!" Janet exclaimed. "You know what? A long time ago, your father and I met a man who was very unique. His name was Rocky."

"That's it, Mom!" Charity practically shouted. "That's the perfect name for him!"

Just then Brad entered the room to meet his new grandson.

"Hi, Dad! This is Rocky!" Charity held the baby so that her father could see him. He was wrapped in a blanket so that his wings weren't visible.

"Well, aren't _you _a little cutie!" Brad smiled in spite of himself.

"Would you like to hold him?" asked Charity.

"Of course!" said Brad.

As Charity was handing the baby to her father, part of the blanket fell away, and Brad caught a glimpse of his grandson's back.

"What's this on his back?" Brad demanded. He examined the baby for a moment, and then his face suddenly turned red with fury.

"I knew it!" he exploded, so angry that veins bulged out in his forehead. "I knew that..._thing..._was the father!"


	22. In The Arms Of An Angel

"Honey, he's a beautiful baby!" Janet rubbed her husband's back in an attempt to calm him. "How can you look at him and not fall in love with him?"

"He's perfect," Brad admitted. "Except for those..._things _on his back. They'll have to come off, of course. I'll fetch the doctor right away."

"No, Dad!" Charity was near tears. _"Please _don't have his wings cut off! They're a part of him! Can't you see?"

"Honey, please be reasonable!" Janet urged her husband.

"I'm not having some half breed with wings living in my house, and that's final!" Brad exclaimed.

Charity sobbed hysterically. Janet held her and tried to comfort her. "It's going to be all right, sweetheart. I know of a place we can go to stay."

* * *

Columbia was surprised to see Janet drive up to her home with Charity and three-day-old Rocky. "Well, look at you, all grown up!" she said to Charity. "And is this your baby? He's adorable!"

"This is Rocky," Charity said proudly.

"We need a place to stay for awhile," Janet told her friend. "Brad refuses to let Rocky live in our house because his father's an ornithanthrope."

"An orni-_what?"_

"A bird-man," Charity explained.

Columbia frowned. "Never heard of that."

"He looks just like an ordinary man except that he has wings," Charity told her. "Rocky has wings, too."

"He does? Oh, let me see!"

Charity unwrapped Rocky from his blanket so that Columbia could see his wings. Columbia squealed with delight. "Oh, that is just _too _perfect!"

"Eddie!" she called to her husband. "Come see Janet's new grandson!"

Eddie came out of his bedroom, where he'd been writing a new song.

"Aw, he looks just like a little angel," he commented when he saw Rocky.

"That's just what he is!" Charity exclaimed. "A perfect little angel."

* * *

Janet and Charity had been staying with Eddie and Columbia for about a week when Brad appeared, looking very penitent.

"I'm sorry," he said to his wife and daughter. "Can you ever forgive me? I was so wrong. No matter what Rocky looks like, he's still my grandson, and I love him. Please come back home."

"Rocky's keeping his wings," Charity said firmly.

"Of course he is," Brad replied.

"We're going to miss you," Columbia told her guests.

"You're welcome to come visit any time," Janet told her.

As soon as they returned home, Trinity came running out of the house, followed closely by Destiny. "Can I hold him?" she asked.

"Of course you can." Charity showed her younger sister how to support the baby's head, and Trinity held him.

"Can I hold him next?" asked Destiny.

* * *

Rocky grew to be a chubby, happy baby. Charity and her mother and sisters, and sometimes even Brad, lavished love and attention on him almost constantly. Over the next few months, he learned to roll over, then to sit up. Before long, he was cooing and babbling.

One day Charity sat by the window holding Rocky. "Da!" he shouted, pointing out the window. Charity looked in the direction in which he was pointing and there, to her shock, was Pygar!

Charity jumped to her feet and hurried to let the winged man in.

"I'm sorry to have been away for so long," Pygar told her. "Right after I last saw you, I was taken prisoner and forced into slavery. I was only very recently able to escape and return to you."

Charity placed little Rocky into Pygar's arms. "Meet your son," she said.

Pygar's face registered shock and amazement. "My son?"

"Da da." Rocky grinned, showing the two little teeth in his lower jaw.

"Oh, Charity!" Pygar held Rocky tightly in one arm and hugged Charity with the other. "Now I'm not the only ornithanthrope anymore!"

"Da da," Rocky said again.

"I love you, Charity," said Pygar. "Please come home with me!"

"But where do you live?" asked Charity.

"It is far from here," said Pygar. "But you will be happy there. You and I belong together. You're the woman I've waited my entire life for."

Charity hugged and kissed her parents and sisters good-bye, and then Pygar flew away with Charity safely tucked under one arm, Rocky under the other.

Although she had no idea where she was going, Charity wasn't afraid. She was held securely in the arms of an angel, one who loved her and was carrying her to her new home.

At last they arrived at a giant nest.

"This is where you live?" Charity stared in shock and wonder.

"Yes," Pygar told her. "I know it's very different from what you're used to, but I really think you'll grow to love it here."

Charity found the nest to be surprisingly spacious and comfortable. As Rocky was starting to get a bit cranky, she quickly got him settled for a nap, then lay back in the nest with Pygar.

They began to kiss, their hands to wander all over one another's bodies. Charity's fingers reached Pygar's feathered briefs and gently tugged them down and then off. She took his manhood into her hand and gently stroked it until it was hard. His fingers moved between her legs to stimulate her there and, when they were both ready, he moved on top of her and they began to make love. As she moved together with the man she loved, feeling his hot breath on her hair, his skin against her own, Charity knew that she was where she belonged.

_Many thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story. :)_


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